Ice sculptures offered for sale

The internationally-renowned Ice Sculpture Festival might be open to the public in Bruges until January 16, but this does not mean the end – because this treasure-trove of magical ice art is being offered for sale in its entirety to other potential partners and city administrations around the world.

This is the very first time that these ice masterpieces will not be melted down at the end of the festival, but will be given a second life in a new location. Negotiations are already underway with various capital cities and the final choice of venues will be made in the middle of January.

The Bruges Snow and Ice Festival is a unique event of its kind and for many years has been one of the world’s most frequently visited public art attractions. The chosen theme for this current edition – the 10th – was A Journey Around the World. This journey allowed visitors to marvel at the most important Unesco monuments, the great natural wonders of the world and the leading figures in history, all created in different types of ice and snow at a temperature of minus six degrees Celsius..

The 10th anniversary of the festival in Bruges – with its highly exclusive Unesco theme – has been an exceptional success. The ice-cold journey of discovery leads through more than 30 countries on five different continents. There are various anatomical works by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, but also statues from Greek mythology. Great cultural and religious figures such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Ganesha, Shiva, Mozart, Strauss and Bach are also on display. In all, no fewer than 74 ice sculptures have been crafted by the most famous ice artists from around the globe. The gigantic Unesco ice workshop was hewn from 400 tons of crystal-clear ice blocks. For the sculpting of the figures, 30 professional artists were selected from 11 different countries. The preparations for the festival took five weeks to complete.

These icy treasures are currently being preserved at a constant temperature of minus 6 degrees Celsius under a roof with a special thermal steel construction. Use is also being made of an “intelligent” cooling system, which can be remotely controlled at distance by sms. A haulage firm specialising in large and exceptional loads is available for the shipping and transportation of the statues. Sea transport in ships with specially cooled holds is a possible option. In fact, this will probably be the largest ice transportation in history. The huge ice sculptures measure up to sixmetres in height and each weigh between four and eight tons.

The likely cost for the dismantling, transport and reassembly of the festival is estimated at €250,000 – an investment which should be possible to recover through the interest already being shown by other European cities. This must be a realistic possibility given the exceptional quality festival, which during the past five weeks in Bruges has welcomed no fewer than 150,000 visitors.

“During the past 10 years we have employed hundreds of artists, working with sand in the summer and ice in the winter. In view of the high level of involvement and commitment with the Unesco theme, this winter we have chosen only the very best artists. It would therefore be a great shame if the largest ice museum in the world is soon allowed to melt into oblivion,” concludes Alexander Deman, the organiser of this initiative.”